'Solo' Slumps in Second Weekend While 'RBG' and 'Overboard' Reach Studio Milestones

by Brad Brevet

June 3, 2018

There were no big surprises this weekend as Disney and Lucasfilms's Solo: A Star Wars Story suffered a steep drop following a disappointing debut and the week's new releases made hardly a dent. STX's Adrift led the way, though fell short of expectations, while BH Tilt's micro-budgeted feature Upgrade delivered solid results based on its budget and expectations. If there was a "big" surprise it came by way of Paramount's Action Point, which wasn't expected to do much to begin with, but flopped to the tune of just $2.3 million from 2,032 theaters. Meanwhile, a couple milestones were reached for both Magnolia and Pantelion on the backs of strong runs for both RBG and Overboard respectively.

With an estimated $29.29 million, Disney and Lucasfilms's Solo: A Star Wars Story dipped 65% this weekend, a result that was to be expected following the film's steady decline during the week after its disappointing debut last weekend. The film's domestic cume ended the weekend just shy of $150 million. Internationally, Solo brought in an estimated $30.3 million for an overseas total that now stands at $115.3 million and a global cume totaling $264.2 million.

Fox and Marvel's Deadpool 2 delivered a second place finish with an estimated $23.3 million, pushing the film's domestic cume just shy of $255 million as it enters its third week in release. Additionally, the film climbed back to the top of the international charts this weekend, bringing in an estimated $41.5 million, pushing its overseas cume to $344 million for a global tally just shy of $600 million, moving into the top 150 all-time. The film's international performance this weekend was led by a $5.5 million debut in Japan.

In third, STX's survival drama Adrift brought in an estimated $11.5 million from 3,015 locations. This puts the debut performance for the $35 million production on par with pre-weekend comps including McFarland, USA and Everything, Everything and just ahead of The Mountain Between Us. One difference between those films and Adrift, however, is Adrift's "B" CinemaScore compared to the "A-" earned by Mountain and Everything, as well as the "A" for McFarland. All told, Adrift could struggle to reach $30 million domestically as it must contend with a continued barrage of summer releases.

Exit polling shows Adrift skewed female, playing to an audience that was 62% female vs. 38% male. Of the audience 19% were 18-years-old or under, though 69% of the overall audience was aged 25 or older, which could mean the audience for this one is a bit too niche to deliver too long a run in a crowded summer marketplace.

Disney and Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War brought in an estimated $10.37 million, landing in fourth position as it kicks off its sixth weekend in release with a domestic cume that now stands at $642.8 million. Internationally, the film added another $24.3 million this weekend, pushing its overseas cume to $1.33 billion for a global tally that is now just ~$35 million shy of becoming only the fourth film to have ever topped $2 billion worldwide.

Paramount's Book Club rounded out the top five with an estimated $6.8 million, pushing the film's domestic cume to $47 million after 17 days in release.

Just outside the top five we find BH Tilt's Upgrade with an estimated $4.46 million debut. The micro-budgeted feature surpassed Mojo's pre-weekend expectations as it took advantage of the best reviews among the new titles this weekend and is on track for a solid run, possibly topping $10 million.

Exit polling was very positive for Upgrade with 46% of the overall audience giving it a definite recommend, scoring best with younger males — the core demographic for the film — with 90% rating it excellent or very good. Overall, 76% of the audience was 25 years or older while 64% of the audience was male vs. 36% female.

It isn't until ninth place that we find Paramount's Action Point. Led by Johnny Knoxville, the $19 million production brought in a mere $2.3 million from 2,032 theaters, ranking among the worst openings ever for a film debuting in 2,000+ locations. Overall, the audience was 67% male with 50% of the audience coming in 25 years or older.

Rounding out the top ten is Overboard, which brought in an estimated $1.975 million for a domestic total of $45.5 million, topping the $44.46 million for Instructions Not Included to become the highest grossing release for Lionsgate's Pantelion label.

Outside the top ten, Magnolia's documentary RBG grossed an estimated $1.1 million this weekend from 432 theaters, pushing the film's domestic gross to $7.87 million. This makes RBG Magnolia's highest grossing domestic release of all-time, topping 2017's I am Not Your Negro ($7.1 million), which went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.

In limited release, The Orchard and MoviePass teamed to release American Animals, which the two partnered to buy North American rights for $3 million following its Sundance debut. The film debuted with a healthy $140,629 this weekend from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a strong $35,157 per theater average and it will continue to expand throughout the month. Additionally, IFC's A Kid Like Jake opened in one theater with an estimated $9,063 and FilmRise's Breath brought in an estimated $5,700 from one location.

Next weekend Warner Bros. will release Ocean's 8 into over 4,000 theaters; Global Road's Hotel Artemis opens in ~2,000 theaters; and A24 will debut the much buzzed about horror feature Hereditary into an as yet undisclosed number of theaters nationwide.

You can check out all of this weekend's estimated results right here and we'll be updating our charts with weekend actuals on Monday afternoon.